Petals On the Sand
by Honey Funny Bunny
Summary: A compilation of stories featuring the heroine and the boys of Habataki City. Similar to You and Me, but not the same.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters, places, etc.

**Author's Note**: So, after what feels like an eternity of inactivity, I have returned! Since summer is finally here and I plan to spend it as my final period of freedom and laziness before the strenuous school year that lies ahead of me, I have heaps of time to write. I'm aiming to get some stories published before the end of the summer, and this is one of them.

Recently, I've been getting back into video games that I rarely ever had time for during the past school year. I've loaded up my EDGE card with games to keep me busy and inspired. And inspired I am! I got TMGS 2nd Season's English patch from gokusaishiki and I'm currently playing several routes.

Late last night I was struck, once again, with the urge to begin a brand-new compilation of short stories. I've yet to finish_ You and Me_, but I decided to just start a new one. Besides, I want a different name for the heroine... Hehe. Oh, and I'm still not sure on whether I'm going to include oneshots for Kazuyuki Akagi or Wakaouji Takafumi since I've never played their routes before. I _might_ try playing them for the first time, though, but right now I'm undecided.

On a final note, this story will be similar in _You and Me _in the aspect that none of the stories are related and they happen in the different dimensions – or rather, different save files. As in, Daisy could be going out with Kounoshin Hariya in one installment and be having a heated makeout session with Saeki Teru in the next. But she wouldn't be considered cheating on Saeki. My explanation isn't very good, but if you've read _You and Me_, then you know what I'm talking about, right? I hope so! (By the way, thank you bunches for reading my other story!)

By the way, I tried to make all of their parts in this prologue the same length. But I'm pretty sure you can still tell who I'm more biased towards. Hehe...

On to the story, then! It's just the prologue for now, but nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it! I give you heaps of gratitude and bundles of hugs for reading! Thank you!

* * *

><p>At different times on different days, Konami Daisy's profile on Memorial, the latest and most popular social networking website in Habataki City, is viewed and squinted at by a rainbow of colored eyes. These eight pairs of eyes examine (or eventually do so, in most cases) every Memorial Page that their newfound acquaintance has Liked, every Group on Memorial that she's a part of, and every public picture of hers that she has either uploaded herself or has been tagged in.<p>

And no, it isn't stalking.

It's purely research – research that will help determine the fate of the friend request that Daisy has sent to her eight visitors (not all at once, of course).

After about every detail is scrutinized (something to note: this did not happen for all of the group; some of Daisy's profile viewers simply glanced and accepted the friend request without any second thoughts or considerations), the choice to accept or deny comes up.

For many, it isn't a difficult decision. None of the eight boys based their final verdict on life or death, for that would have been ridiculous and abnormal.

However, what all of them did not expect were the events that followed involving this Konami Daisy girl, and how she would come to change all of their lives in different ways – in good ways for some, in bad ways for others...

* * *

><p>After a day that was as regular and ordinary as the solar cycle, Saeki Teru settles into the computer chair, a faint scent of coffee lingering on his skin and an old song that his grandfather loved to put on during the work day in Sangosho replaying itself once again in his ears. He considers lying his pounding head down on the cool desk for a moment or two, but he remembers that he has the beginnings of a paper to write and he instead starts up his computer.<p>

Within the minute that his laptop takes to power on, his headache heightens slightly, and normally Teru would dismiss it as an all-too-familiar symptom of stress, but it's enough to have Teru decide that he's going to procrastinate. Just for today.

He signs onto Memorial to ask if anyone's started on the essay... Okay, so not really. That was a lie.

He's _really_ going to check if that Daisy girl that he'd seen at the beach yesterday has said anything about his job at Sangosho. That threat of a girl had been on his mind the whole day – but only because she was dangerous.

It's then that Teru notices the small red icon with the number one on the top of the website, and he clicks it with curiosity. It leads him to a page with a list of friend requests. He ignores the ones on the bottom (they're week-old requests from the female executives of his fanclub – there's even one from a male member but he pointedly looks away from it – that he has yet to respond to) and focuses his attention on the newest notification. It's from some girl in his class named –

His eyes go wide and he says aloud, "It's her!" (He even jumps up from the seat a little but he pretends that he hadn't.) Suddenly his face feels uncomfortably warm and he feels like an idiot for his complete overreaction, and the tiny instance of humiliation causes him to slam his laptop closed.

Teru concludes that though he knows nearly nothing about this Daisy girl, he already doesn't like her.

But he _has_ to keep an eye on her. She knows a secret of his that she could very easily spread to his fanbase, and then he'd have a major situation on his hands.

Shuddering at the thought of daily visits at work from ogling fangirls (and – dear God – maybe even fanboys) Teru opens his laptop again to reluctantly accept her friend request.

After the website announces that their mutual online friendship has been confirmed, Teru heaves in a breath, holding the palm of his hand against his forehead to try to soothe the throbbing inside. The only thought he's able to process at the the moment is that _it sucks being popular_.

* * *

><p>Shiba leans forward in silent excitement as the browser fully finishes loading the page for Hanegasaki High's baseball team. He scrolls downwards, eyes eagerly scanning across the lines of text for information about how to join.<p>

A subtle smile comes onto his lips as he sees that one boldfaced word that he's been searching for: "tryouts". He subconsciously murmurs the word to himself before moving his finger on the trackpad downwards. His pulse increases a bit as he comes across the list of requirements (which is short, thankfully), and he's on the first one about past experience when something pops up on his screen and blocks the text.

Shiba's forehead furrows and his initial reaction is to sit and scowl at the box. He patiently waits for it to melt under his intimidating glare, as some of his classmates had done before.

But it remains there in the middle of the screen stubbornly, staring right back at him. Shiba sighs and gives in, looking to see what the notification was all about.

_A friend request?_ He thinks to himself as he reads the words, one eyebrow rising in moderate interest. _My lab partner, probably. But wait, his name was – and nevermind, it's a girl._

"Konami Daisy?" His left eyebrow goes up to join the other as he says the name of the source. He's heard that name before, he's sure, but he doesn't quite remember how...

It takes Shiba a couple of seconds before his face lights up in surprise. How could he have forgotten? Konami Daisy is the manager of the baseball team at school!

Grateful and shocked at his luck, Shiba clicks the "accept" button without hesitation.

* * *

><p>Upon logging onto Memorial, Itaru is astonished by the numerous complaints from students that he finds posted on the news feed. His name is tagged in only some of the posts; most of them don't bother and instead choose to write "that pale nerd".<p>

Itaru slams his hands down onto his laptop angrily.

His reasons for scolding the many childish students that loved to goof around and play games of tag with one another in the hallways instead of heading to class were right and justified! It's his _job_ as the first-year student council president of Hanegasaki High, for God's sake!

In his frustration, Itaru almost sends a heated response to one of the more ruder students whose dictionary of adjectives seems to only include the word "stupid" but stops right after he realizes that another student's already gone ahead and reprimanded the damn delinquent.

The student, a girl named Daisy who's in the same school year as Itaru, had replied only several minutes ago: _"Please calm down... I know that I wasn't in your situation so I can't really understand how annoyed you are, but no matter what, you don't have to be so rude. Don't call him stupid... Be more civilized! And maybe you didn't know, but Hikami's _supposed _to scold you when you're going against school rules__._"

Impressed, Itaru releases a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. _So there _is _a mature student who understands after all_, he thinks, amazed and pleased at his finding.

He clicks her name, leading him to her profile. Itaru reads her short biography approvingly. He learns that Konami Daisy is the manager of the school's baseball team and even works a part-time job at the Anneri Floral House. He considers paying her a visit to thank her when he's free...

But for now, Itaru feels that the least he can do is add her as a friend on the site.

He scrolls upwards until he's at the top of her page, and is met with another pleasant surprise. She's apparently already added him – the button next to her profile picture reads, "_Accept friend request_" instead of "_Send friend request_".

Itaru clicks it, some of his faith in his fellow Hanegasaki students restored.

* * *

><p>His face contorted in deep concentration, Hariya stares down at the messy assemblage of incomplete worksheets and blank pieces of lined paper that clutter his desk. He's just finished taking a nice, long break to watch MTV's hour-long special on old rock music, and he knows it was a stupid thought to begin with but during one of the commercial breaks the notion that his homework was finishing itself struck him as he relaxed on the sofa.<p>

_You're a moron_, Hariya mentally scolds himself as he brings his pencil to the paper for the fourth time in two minutes. He glances at the clock, hoping to see 5:00PM written on it despite the darkness of the night sky that he could clearly see from where he sat.

Frustrated, he drops his pencil and glares at the equations that remain unsolved before him. _Why do I need to learn this shit anyway? I'm gonna become a musician, and musicians don't need to solve for the sides of a right fucking triangle._

The sinking feeling in his stomach alerts him that he'll have to utilize one of his last resorts. He _really_ doesn't want to, but at the same time, he isn't really offered any other choice. He's going to have to talk his way into getting solutions from (shudder) the math geeks.

As he unwillingly logs into his Memorial account, brainstorming methods on how to bribe those "human calculators" (as they, hilariously enough, liked to call themselves) into giving him all of the right answers, he comes across a tiny, distracting obstable – a new friend request.

This neither surprised him nor interested him, for such an occurrence was normal in the life of blooming musicians. With a blank expression, Hariya clicks on it to see who's it from.

The notification informs him that some girl named Daisy wants to be his friend on Memorial.

Okay, _now_ he's interested. Just a little bit...

Hariya smirks as he recognizes the name and the smiling face in her profile picture. This was the girl who'd been lucky enough to hear a sample of his awesome musical talents. She'd walked in on him playing a self-composed melody on his guitar during the school's lunch break. And she had been knocked speechless, breathless – as was expected.

So, receiving this didn't shock him in any way. Even if she hadn't sent it today, he knows that she would've eventually. _She probably wants to hear more_, he muses with a grin.

Hariya accepts the request, feeling proud after doing the right thing for his fan.

Pushing his homework sheets as far away from the computer desk as possible, Hariya decides to take yet another break. This time, he spends it scrolling and clicking around on the girl's profile.

_Damn, she's cute_, he thinks as he stumbles upon a photo album of hers containing snapshots from the previous summer. It only hits him once that what he's doing could possibly be percepted as creepy, but he quickly comes to a thought that preserves his pride – _if she didn't want her pictures to be viewed, then she would've put them all on private_.

Around the tenth picture in, a warm feeling on his skin makes him realize that he's blushing. He dismisses it immediately, blaming his rising body temperature on the heat of the spring night instead.

Nevertheless, he stops at that picture and closes the tab, remembering why he logged in to the site in the first place. He has a human calculator to look for...

* * *

><p>He's been questioned about it before due to his feminine appearance, but there is no doubt that Christopher Weatherfield is straight. Heterosexual, not gay, whatever.<p>

The main point here is that Chris loves girls. He can't really explain it – he just does. The poor guy can't help his excessive helping of hormones.

So when a stroke of luck gets him a kiss with a pretty, petite girl one day in the corridor, it's no surprise that Chris is unable to stop thinking about it. About her.

Could it have been any other girl? Probably. Most likely. Yes. Definitely.

But there is something different about Daisy (he'd asked for her name instantly after she'd recovered), something that he can't figure out. It isn't just that she's unmistakably adorable; to him, all girls possess their own unique, attractive charm.

Now, Chris considers himself relatively skilled with the ladies – well, definitely better than some of the people he knew – but with Daisy, he discovers that his "skills" aren't as good as he thought they were. He'd _stuttered_ when he'd introduced himself to her. Stuttered! He's sure that's the mistake of an amateur.

He suspects that it's the work of that "something" about her (he hates referring to it as "that something"; he wants to find at least one clue on whatever "that something" was).

Because of Daisy's "that something", he becomes hopelessly flustered when he gets a friend request from her three weeks and four days (yes, he's been counting) after their accidental kiss. Honestly, he had been thinking about friending her ever since that day, but his courage, much like his flirting smarts, had dwindled over that course of time.

Regardless, Chris chooses to think positively. Perhaps this would be an opportunity for him to learn more about Daisy's "that something". And he wants nothing more but to learn more about her – err, about her "that something", he means.

Chris accepts.

* * *

><p>"Feel free to call out or speak to me when you see me around at school!" As soon as the words spill from his mouth, Amachi Shota shrinks, feeling pathetic for showing such desperation.<p>

The pretty girl giggles at his words, and the younger boy quickly averts his gaze in embarrassment. "I-I meant that as in... All my friends will think I'm cool for having such a prett – I mean, senpai talk to me." That isn't much better and he trips up near the end, but at least she stops laughing at him.

"I get it," the senpai says, smiling. Shota stares at her openly as she talks about something he tunes out, noticing her short height for the first time. _Even though we're a year apart, this senpai is still the same height as me..._

"...anyway, I'll need your name if you want me to call out to you, you know. Unless you want me to call you the 'pink-haired kid' instead!"

He snaps back to attention at the questioning tone in her voice and nods – a little too eagerly, but, to his relief, she doesn't notice. "Amachi Shota! Please treat me well," he says as politely as he can.

"I'm Konami Daisy. Please treat me well, too!"

"Daisy-senpai." He tries her name out and is amazed that he doesn't stutter. "Daisy-senpai," he repeats, unable to help himself. "Your name is very pretty..."

"Thank you," she gushes, eyes twinkling at him. He gulps; is she doing that on purpose? So that he'd trip up some more and make a bigger fool out of himself?

"I'll remember to talk to you," she continues, and Shota shakes the negativity out of his head to listen closely. "I have to go now, but... Hey, do you have a Memorial?"

"Of course," he answers, trying to sound aloof and not at all hopeful. Shota leans against the wall in a casual attempt to look cooler, more mature.

"I'll add you, then." For some reason, her voice shakes and she pales, appearing nervous. Or is it just wishful thinking on his part? "Is that all right with you, Amachi-kun?"

Shota's eyes widen and he can only nod in reply, turned breathless after hearing his name come out of her lips, in her voice. Daisy flashes him one last warm smile before she covers her head with her umbrella.

And Shota immediately breaks into a run, no longer caring about the drops of rain that pelted down on his hair and soaked his clothes. If he ends up with a sore throat or a cold, it wouldn't matter.

He's made a new acquaintance, one that his friends will indeed be very jealous of him for...

* * *

><p>Wakaouji Takafumi enters his apartment and almost instantly drops all of the folders in his hand. Papers spill out onto the floor, and he ends up spending what feels like half an hour collecting and reorganizing them all.<p>

He puts the folders down on the countertop carefully as to prevent the time-consuming scenario from reoccurring. The teacher then glances around at his tiny abode discouragingly; his apartment's the farthest thing from clean. Unwashed plates and cups lie untouched in the sink, the potted plant in the corner of the room is dry and browning (he regrets not purchasing the plastic one instead), piles of unsorted movie tapes and DVD's stand wobbling in front of the small television set, the old sofa is bleeding out cotton in several places, and, best of all, he'd accidentally left his computer on the whole day.

Great – a pricier electricity bill is just what he needs. _Life really knows how to satisfy me_, he thinks with a sigh as he walks with slumped shoulders to his computer desk.

The screen shows another thing that he's forgotten. "Oh, I forgot to sign off last night," he mumbles to no one in particular. He's just about to log himself out of his Memorial account (yes, teachers _do_ have online social lives as well) when he notices with alarm that he has a new friend request.

"I hope it's not another student," he murmurs again to himself. Ever since the new school year's started, Takafumi, unfortunately enough, has been receiving abundant requests from the female students in his homeroom class – so many that he considers deleting his account on the website.

But he knows he can't. The site is almost vital to his job; it allows him easy conversations with the administration and the other teachers at Hanegasaki.

Still, he wishes that his students would just forget about him having an account. Or, though he truly loves them all, respect his privacy and leave his online profile alone. Takafumi admits that if he had his way, he would add all of his students as friends on the site. It's just that it would look painfully suspicious to his bosses.

However, Takafumi pauses and hovers over the deny button as he sees who the request is from. Konami Daisy – one of the first-year students in his homeroom class.

He recalls her rank on the first finals of the year. She isn't one of the students on the top, as she had scored a bit weakly in mathematics, but she had earned herself a spot that was better than average.

And, though he would never tell it to any of his co-workers, Konami Daisy fascinated him. So far she's volunteered to go on all of the weekend extracurricular activies that he offered the class, and she'd answered his quiz questions correctly on all of them.

But it was her replies on the first-day questionnaire that had intrigued him the most. According to the questionnaire, Konami Daisy had enrolled at Hanegasaki High for its sports programs, likes to read, and hopes to find a part-time job to support herself. (He can't believe he still remembers.)

Curious, Takafumi loads her page on his screen and is happy with what he finds. Her questionnaire answers are all precisely reflected on her profile.

_Hmm..._ Takafumi rests his cheek against his hand in thought. Perhaps his bosses wouldn't be too suspicious of him? It would only be one instance...

He straightens up a minute later, having made his decision.

He'll make an exception.

Just one...

* * *

><p>After less than twenty successful sales at work and a harsh scolding from his co-worker, Motoharu Masaki goes home to begin the unwinding process. He takes out all of his favorite snacks and grabs the cans of Coca-Cola that he's been saving for a crappy day.<p>

Masaki tosses his meal onto the carpet and goes to change into homier, more comfortable attire. He emerges from the hallway minutes later, still fuming as badly as he had done in the car drive from work.

"I wasn't flirting," he grumbles repeatedly, plopping himself onto the floor. "'Being overly friendly' my ass," he adds under his breath, ripping open a bag of chips with more force than necessary.

The one truly at fault is the new employee – a cute, shy redhead enrolled at none other than Masaki's alma mater, Hanegasaki High.

He feels as if he's shrunk to the form of silly, immature child for dumping the blame on someone who not only is a stranger to him but is his _junior_. And yet, there he is, sitting and pouting (just a little!) like _he's_ the younger one.

Masaki shakes his head, practically gulping down a whole can of Coke in one enormous swig. His mind refused to change itself.

He hadn't flirted with her. He isn't the type of guy to do that.

Arisawa had misunderstood – and misunderstood _badly_.

He'd simply been friendly and hadn't been able to help himself from... From...

From admiring her uniform? Looking at it had brought back a strange, exhilarating rush of nostalgia, and –

Suddenly, an image of his new coworker in her uniform invades his thoughts, and Masaki quickly takes another urgent drink of his soda.

Okay, no. That's only half the truth.

But Masaki _really_ doesn't want to think about the complete truth right now.

He snatches his charging laptop on the floor and powers it on. A YouTube video of a cat playing three-card Monte should do the trick...

Out of habit he automatically opens a tab and signs into his Memorial account. Just as he's about to switch to the loading YouTube tab, a tiny red icon underneath on his Memorial homepage catches his eye.

He clicks on it and immediately wishes that he hadn't.

Before he knows it, Masaki's chugging down his third can of Coke.

He finishes it hastily, the back of his throat burning as a result of the swift ingestion. But he really couldn't care less about that right now.

So her name's Konami Daisy.

Ugh. Crap.

He's grinning.

Her first name is just so fitting, and her profile picture's adorable –

Masaki halts himself before he can go any further. He has to fix this before it takes a wrong – emphasis on the _wrong_ – turn.

_Her cuteness is..._ He starts, afraid of what he would think up to finish the statement

But it turns out to be perfect.

_She's like a younger sister!_

Yes, yes, that's it!

Masaki accepts the friend request.

He pushes away the unconvinced, persisting thoughts in his head and happily marches off to the kitchen, where he stashes away the rest of the soda cans.

For another day.

He finishes this one looking around on his new online friend and Anneri co-worker's profile. But only because he wants to be a good senior and maybe even older brother figure. That's all.

No big deal.


End file.
